My 2-month (with the option of an extension, if it goes well) wardrobe shopping hiatus and wardrobe refashion pledge

It took me four days to work out the details of this plan, so if you're wondering why the date says May 1st, but it didn't show up until May 4th, that's why.  Also, sorry if this post is boring - just a lot of words, and no pictures.  I promise that the posts that will result from this hiatus and pledge will be much less boring.

I have been thinking for some time about imposing a temporary wardrobe shopping hiatus on myself.

The reasons for this are threefold:

1. Over the past year-plus, I have undertaken a major overhaul of my existing wardrobe. This involved:

• Getting rid of a lot of items that weren't sufficiently benefitting my wardrobe.
  
• Compiling a list of very specific items to acquire in order to round-out my wardrobe.
  
• Creating piles of alterations and projects that could multiply my wardrobe's flexibility.
  
• Investing in a lot of wise wardrobe purchases, while making surprisingly few unwise wardrobe purchases.
  
• Implementing a new wardrobe storage and organization system that keeps everything in my wardrobe from "hiding."
  

Therefore, I'd like to see if I can limit myself to my existing wardrobe without getting antsy.

2. I have some major planned expenses looming, so ceasing wardrobe investments for a time would help ease the financial shock that I'm expecting.

3. I want to see if I have enough self-control to do it. My wardrobe is by far my most fulfilling hobby, so this is like asking my husband to stop trying new rock-climbing routes for two months, and instead keep improving his technique on the ones he has already tried.

The reasons why I hadn't yet committed to a wardrobe shopping hiatus are also threefold:

1. My line of work often requires shopping for clothes for actors and dancers, so I am constantly bombarded with temptation. For example: "The black dress I bought for that actress was simply darling and remarkably affordable. I should go back this weekend and get myself the rose-colored version." Incidentally, this is still one of my favorite dresses, three years later. Or, "So, that necklace didn't end up working for that character's costume. But it's so pretty. Rather than going to the trouble of returning it, how about I just don't submit the receipt for reimbursement, and that way I'll be paying for it and can just keep it myself?" This act of buying-by-default happens a lot, because doing as many returns as I do for my line of work is a huge hassle, so sometimes it's easier to just eat the cost of something and keep it myself, rather than bothering with the return. Fortunately, this time of year signals the winding-down of the theatre season and the academic calendar, so I'll be shopping for fewer shows, and therefore exposed to less temptation.

2. I have a beach vacation coming up, for which I'll need some basic items I don't own (like suitable footwear), and I also have a standing wishlist of very specific wardrobe items (see action in second bulleted point above) that I don't want to skip investing in if they happen to finally appear during my shopping hiatus.

3. I needed a kick in the proverbial pants.

Well, I got the badly-needed kick in the pants, thanks to sallymandy over at The Blue Kimono.

Sallmandy has pledged to buy no new wardrobe items (and nothing used, either) for at least two months, and in the process, to refashion items from her own wardrobe using the creativity, skills, resources, and tools that she has at her disposal. And she has invited the rest of us to join her. You can read more about it in her own words here.

So I'm jumping on board, but with one caveat, as follows.

Part 1 of 2 of my pledge:

I, Stephanie N, pledge to make no wardrobe purchases for at least two months (May 1 through June 30), except for possibly the items listed in my "These purchases are permitted to break my 2-month wardrobe shopping hiatus" list in the sidebar.

Yeah, this sort-of feels like a cop-out, especially when people like Jane of Work That Wardrobe manage to go a whole year with far fewer exceptions. But I couldn't think of any pleasing way around it. Item #1 is essential because I don't own any beach-appropriate footwear (I'm normally a no-toes-showing kind of gal). Item #2 only seems fair because a little splurging is what one does on vacations to places you have never before visited, and item #3 is an aspect of my wardrobe that has been embarrassingly neglected while the rest of my wardrobe has been re-worked over the past year.  Let's just say that the inside does not match the outside.  But items 4, 5, 6, and 7 have all been on my standing "wardrobe essentials wishlist" for over a year now (item 7 for over 2 years), and it's highly unlikely that any of them will magically show up at just the right price during this hiatus.  The point is, the exceptions aren't really all that exceptional.

Part 2 of 2 of my pledge (a significant variation on the pledge at Wardrobe Refashion):

I, Stephanie N, pledge to refashion, renovate, and recycle preloved wardrobe items for myself during my two-month shopping hiatus, and to create new wardrobe items myself without buying any new fabric or trimmings.

This part of the pledge is easy for me, since I occasionally do this already, and since I have a huge pile of alterations and dreamed-of projects waiting in the wings, as well as a significant stash of fabrics, trimmings, and notions. I will permit myself to purchase any notions necessary for completing projects, such as zippers, buttons, elastic or thread - but I expect those needs to be minimal.

Well, off I go.  Soon, I'll be sharing a major wardrobe-refashioning that I did for a formal event near the end of April.  It technically doesn't fit within the 2-month May-June commitment, but I definitely had this commitment in mind when I was working on the project.